The One to Rule Them All
by prettylittlegranger
Summary: Mother told me that this was the only way to ensure we would rule. But she didn't tell me I would die. A re-telling of the Descendants story, the way it was meant to be told. Rated M for future content.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Every now and then, it's normal for everyone to think about wanting to be someone else. It's not that their lives are terrible or that they don't enjoy who they are, it's just that creating yourself as a new person has a wonderful feel to it. It feels like you're changing the world you're in, choosing to see the world in a new way. It feels like there is a whole another world out there that you've never seen before because you were locked into a persona, locked into a personality. But suddenly you decide to change your music, change your clothes, change the way you perceive the world. And there's a new life.

This new life can be whatever you want it to be. The only limitations are your imagination or sanity. You can be the bad guy if you want. You can be good and help your fellow man. You may choose to not do either of those things. It's a liberating, soul cleansing experience that makes you feel new.

If you don't know this feeling, just give it time. You'll understand when you become complacent in your life. When you feel as though you're stuck and you can't figure out where to go from here. Some people move to a new city. Some find new lovers. Many get frustrated and try to go with the flow. But it hits them eventually. I would give anything to be someone else right now. Is this a midlife crisis? Maybe. But who knows when midlife exactly is? You never know when you're going to die, the moment that you truly have reached your midlife. But how would I have known that when I was always taught midlife was in your forties or fifties. I never thought my life would be shorter than that. How can you have a midlife crisis at just nine? There was no way I knew then that I would be just eighteen when I die. Maybe if I had done this earlier I wouldn't be in this situation.

I'll be dead in two days.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I knew that this was a horrible idea, I fought it from the beginning. While I wanted to be nasty and mean, I never wanted to kill anyone. I just wanted to have fun, feel free. I never wanted to hurt my friends, just the people that hurt them. When Mother told me the plan, I did everything I could to change her mind. But she is as stubborn as I am. Even more so. I know I get it from her.

"Mal, this is the final discussion." Mother glared at me over her scepter. She turned to overlook the balcony and watched as everyone crowded around the limousine that was awaiting below our flat. "They're here and you must hurry. We don't want the others to get suspicious. Surely they're all thinking of their own ways they can overrule me when this plan works."

I blankly stared down at the limousine. I had never seen a real car before. It was so much larger than I thought it would be. And not as loud as they're talked about to be. Mother turned to walk away, her scepter tapping the floor as she walked, catching my attention.

"We can't do this. This will not end well. What if they discover what we're really up to? Surely they will not be as kind as to bring us back to the isle. We'll end up worse." I tried to reason with her. As usual when I had something important to say, she appeared to let the words drift right past her. She didn't acknowledge my thoughts, but I knew it wouldn't have mattered anyway. She was going to get what she wanted and this offer gave her the perfect opportunity to make a bee-line to the front of the plan. "What if they do something and I'm not able to get in touch with you for back up?"

"Mal, what are you even thinking of this for? You won't have any trouble. You're _my_ daughter and you won't have any reason to need help. You could do this by yourself if you needed to. Do you really think those three friends of yours could handle this job?" Mother rolled her eyes at me when I scoffed in response. "Oh, please. Jay is too concerned with trying to catch something valuable, be it a pocket watch or a piece of ass. Carlos is clueless and simply a lackey. And Evie? Evie is the worst of them all. All she does is stare into that damn mirror like her mother. She is senseless and foolish."

Mother stuck a finger under my chin and with a tight grip, raised my gaze to hers, "You're the only one out of them all, out of all of the children of the Isle. You are the one who will fix this, who will bring justice to us, and will set us free to once again rule." Her stare was intense and her green eyes lit bright like fire. I knew better than to challenge her on this one. I huffed instead.

"Fine. But when I die, I hope you at least give me a proper burial." I told her and grabbed my bag from the chair. She had made the liberty of packing all of my things for me because she was so sure I wouldn't agree to go. So I can bet that she didn't give me a damn thing I would enjoy wearing.

I met the eyes of the others as I slammed the door on the limousine. The three of them looked over at me and blinked, but quickly went back to their previous tasks. Evie was admiring her reflection in the car window, Carlos and Jay were arguing about which of them liked the candy treats that were provided in the car more. I knew this wouldn't be good. I would probably describe my friendship with them as the closest thing to love we know of on the Isle. They're hilarious but totally incapable of getting anything real done. Mother was right. I am the only one that can do this, as much as I hate to admit it.

It's not so much that I don't want to overthrow Auradon. It would be amazing to finally get the respect I deserved, after all. I could finally be recognized as being more than just a girl running the streets. I could be Queen one day. And I could have anything I wanted.

No, that's not the problem. The problem is that I have to be a completely different person than I am. How do I act like evil is not everything I've ever known? How do you even start pretending to be good?

"Mal you look so pale." Evie chirped, scooting closer to me. I blinked away my thoughts and tossed an annoyed glance over to her. The boys continued to sample treats in the background, ignoring us.

"Do you have to do that?" I questioned as she reached in close to pull my bangs out of my eyes. Her fingers brushed across my cheek, down my arm, and landed on my hand, which was beside me on the seat. She rested her hand on top of mine and gently squeezed.

"It's okay, I'm scared too." She said. I had to roll my eyes and look the other way but she was right. She always knew a way to see how I was really feeling under this façade. We were all nervous in our own ways about the journey. There were so many risks in doing this.

We all knew of the plan. We had been prepped moments before leaving, so while we knew what we needed to do, we had no idea how to do it. We were to find Fairy Godmother's wand and shut down the barrier to the Isle. Mother would arrive to Auradon and rain chaos upon its inhabitants. This is the plan that we were all told. However, while the others went to gather their belongings, Mother pulled me aside and told me the real plan. One that would ensure we rise to the top. The one that no one else is to know about.

"I'm sorry E. This is just ridiculous. There's no way to be sure that they won't kill us as soon as we get there." I replied.

"Uh, guys. We might not have to wait until we get there." Carlos spoke up, bracing himself against the seat as he looked straight ahead of the front of the long limousine. Evie and I snapped our heads in the same direction. I realized that we were heading straight towards the mainland of Auradon. While this is where we were supposed to be going, I understand, it was quite a problem because the bridge that connected Auradon and the Isle was long ago destroyed, years before I was even born. We were headed straight for the broken road which leads straight to a drop cliff. We're going top speed, in a death trap of a car. There's no way we could survive that plummet into the sea.

I pulled Evie close as we all screamed and braced ourselves for the impact. Keeping our heads down, I suddenly felt a powerful, amazing feeling. It was as though I could feel every fiber of my being. I felt alive. I felt like there was electricity coursing through my veins. For the first time in my life, I really felt what it was like to breath. I don't know what happened. It felt so sinful and wonderful. My skin was tingling and everything felt surreal.

"Whoa." Jay spoke up. Evie jumped back as I quickly glanced at him to see what his reaction would have been. If he felt nearly as amazing as I did, I was sure to find him with his head rolled back and his teeth biting into his lip like he did when he was pleased. Except I didn't find that. He just turned his head and glanced out of the car window. I followed his gaze, seeing the golden light spiraling around the outside of the car. I glanced out of my own window and looked down. A bridge had somehow formed under our car, preventing us from dropping to our deaths.

"Isn't it amazing?" Evie breathed.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, the effects of that moment starting to wear off.

"The magic?" She responded, gazing up through the skylight at the bright light.

I realized then what that feeling was. It was the power of magic. Mother always described it as a feeling she could never explain to me, it was something I would have to wait and feel on my own. I could feel it coursing through me, almost pulsating. It was an amazing feeling and I suddenly became angry. It hit hard and I didn't expect it. It occurred to me that we had been deprived of this our whole lives. Because of these people we were on our way to live with. We lived without clean water, in a wasteland of pollution and decay, while they enjoyed their clean, free world. I felt so angry that we could be so deprived and had never even realized the magnitude of what we were missing.

Carlos stopped chewing his treats and looked at me. His hand touched my shoulder gently, "Mal, you okay?" He asked. He looked so much like what I would imagine my little brother would look like. He was always like that to me, like a little brother. I had to help him figure things out as a kid because his mother was so fucking insane. She spoke to imaginary dogs half of the time while Carlos was left to try and figure out how to provide them with food to eat. So I would help, cursing at his mother when she would question my motives.

"Yea, I'm fine." I replied, "I could just feel the magic. It was kind of weird." Nobody responded. Maybe they did experience it at least a little bit. Maybe I'm more sensitive because magic is in my blood. My mother was Maleficent, a dark fairy whose powers grew more powerful than anyone could have imagined. It's only natural that some of her power would pass on to me. And since the barrier prevents magic on the Isle, this was my first experience. This was what magic feels like… and I loved it. I could't wait to know more, to actually create something with just willing it into existence.

I glared down at my scuffed boots. I couldn't let this get to my head. I needed to stay focused or else everything could fall apart at any minute. I needed to be on my toes to help prevent getting caught. I didn't want to end up dead.

The car slowly eased onto the roadway in Auradon. I shook off the last of the euphoric magic feeling and focused on taking in my surroundings. The ground was green and I realized that this is what grass actually looked like. I had only seen paintings. The trees shot out of the ground all over. Several held beautiful flowers that dropped petals to rain down on the limousine. I scoffed. This place was disgustingly beautiful. While I was amazed at how different everything was, I already missed the darkness of the clouds that were always hanging over the Isle.

The landscape was so much different than I could have imagined. And had it been a little less…. Bright, maybe I would have enjoyed it more. It was too colorful and some of these colors I had never even seen before. But this is what I needed to be in throughout the next several weeks. Months. Maybe even years. There was no way to know how long it would take to accomplish our mission.

The landscape suddenly evened out, the trees separating and the grass spreading, turning into fields of flowers. I could see a castle coming into view. It wasn't beautiful. The color was grey while the yellow and blue flags flying off the top of the peaks were so loud and bright that it hurt to even glance at them. I spotted several smaller homes nearby as well, all looking as though they were duplicated and meant to look exactly the same, all while looking different than the castle that they obviously served.

I knew little of the Prince Benjamin. I knew he was my age, that this was his idea. That he would be king in just a month. We were on our way to Auradon because this king-to-be decided he wanted to feel nice and let a few underprivileged kids visit Auradon. Probably just a ploy to get his kingdom under his spell.

But the King and Queen…. They were who we were taught about in what some call school. They're the reason we were locked in the Isle in the first place. Who banishes and condemns hundreds of people to a life of misery and diseases in place of a honeymoon?

Everyone seemed to be locked in their own minds as we pulled into the opening of the castle road. The surrounding trees, grass, flowers, it feels magical. I can't help but let that tingle slide down my spine and I shiver. Evie's hand touches mine again and I smile at its coolness. Her hands were always like ice.

We slowly come to a stop in front of a large fountain. We could hear music, a large marching band standing near the entranceway to the towering castle that was the backdrop. Their bright yellow and blue uniforms made them hard to look at. There were at least two dozen of them. There were several individuals standing in front of the fountain, well dressed and apparently waiting our arrival.

"Are you guys ready for this?" I ask, glancing at all of my companions. They nodded quickly. All of us were thinking the same thing. This looked innocent enough, a band and some officials to greet the villain kids. But anything could be waiting on the other side of that door. We didn't know if we were walking into a parade or walking into a trap.

I grasped my hand around the door handle and quickly jumped out into the open. The others swiftly followed and we attempted to focus on where to look first. The sunlight was so bright that I could only squint at first. I could hear some talking as the music begins to quiet but the next thing I know is there's a large hand holding mine in a firm grasp. I focused on that. The slightly tanned skin wrapped around my porcelain tone. My eyes followed the arm, and then my eyes met with his.


	3. Chapter 3

They were golden brown. I had never seen any eyes that pure with color before. I felt a tingle in my stomach, a twinge of excitement as I realized how handsome this man was. He was slightly taller than I and had a smile that looked like he truly was happy to see the ill-fated children of the Isle. I didn't know who he was, but I knew he was gorgeous. I smiled coyly at him and he quickly hid a smirk. A strange look crossed his features, almost as if he knew who I was, like he had spoken with me once in passing. But I would remember those eyes. I could tell the embrace of our hands was holding well past an appropriate time, and was preparing to pull away, when he finally spoke.

"Hello, everyone," He said as he removed his hand from mine. My hand was suddenly cold. His voice was calm but firm, "I am Prince Benjamin. But you can just call me Ben." He glanced down at me after greeted the others and he looked concerned. I realized that I had stopped smiling when I realized who he was. I quickly returned the smile to my face as he moved on from greeting me to introducing himself to the others.

So this was the Prince. He was tall, nicely built. You could see his muscles stretching his shirt sleeves. His hair was dark golden and it looked tousled in the wind. He continued to make a speech about healing and making us feel welcome and going down in history. I bit my tongue. It sure would be a historical event.

I glanced back and forth from Jay, Carlos, and Evie. All of them had looks of bewilderment showing on their features. This was definitely a welcoming committee. I quickly scanned the crowd, shooting my eyes from person to person, assessing the situation to ensure that no one had weapons drawn or in the ready. In my moment with the Prince I had completely missed the entire crowds, children, teenagers, adults, reporters. All of these people here to see, or harm, us. My tension eased slightly as I noticed no one with even a sword present. Of course that didn't mean they were hidden somewhere, waiting for opportunity to arise.

"And I am Fairy Godmother, headmistress of Aurodon Prep." A short woman dressing in a light blue color stepped forward from her place behind the Prince. She was not at all like I would imagine Fairy Godmother to be. Her hair was curled under, a golden brown, and she appeared much younger than I would have thought. From the tales on the Isle she was always described as an old hag. She smiled brightly, yet nervously at all of us, "I will be here to assist you and guide you through your transition into our system and world. Ben and Audrey will be showing you around the grounds today and help you prepare for your first day of classes tomorrow."

My gaze landed on the blonde haired woman beside the Prince. Her scowl was set in my direction. I raised my eyebrows in surprise and challenge. She did the same. While she bore no weapons at this time, I knew that I would need to keep an eye on her. She looked as though one wrong move would end up with one of us needed some medical assistance.

"This is Audrey, my girlfriend." Ben introduced her when he realized that he had forgotten to mention the woman glued to his side. She was beautiful, but looked like she could easily put us in our places if we stepped one toe out of line in her kingdom. She smiled broadly when Ben acknowledged her title of girlfriend. She turned her glance back to meet mine and I could almost feel the daggers she was shooting my way. I could tell this was going to be an interesting journey.

"So, everyone, please, introduce yourselves, tell us who you are!" Fairy Godmother gestured at the four of us and we glanced at each other, each of us weary of answering.

"I'm Jay," the tall brunette spoke up behind me and he moved forward to swiftly grab Audrey's hand. He lifted it to his lips and gave her a wink. I could tell that while she gave an outward look of disgust, she truly enjoyed the attention. He lowered it and returned to my right where he received an eye roll from me. He simply shrugged his shoulders. I knew he couldn't resist the attention either.

"And I'm Carlos, this is Evie," Carlos announced, gesturing at my blue haired friend to my left, "and this is Mal."

I could feel all eyes on me. I kept my ground, raising my chin and letting a smirk land on my features as whispers broke out in the background. I could hear my mother's name being mentioned and small words of fear. Good. However fearful the crowd may be, Audrey took a step forward to look me head on.

"You're Maleficent's daughter? I totally don't blame your mom for everything she did to my family. My mom is, well, you know, Sleeping-"

"Beauty? Yea, I've heard the name." I scoffed. Her bravery didn't faze me," And I totally, don't blame your grandparents for insulting my mother by neglecting to their stupid christening." Her smile fell. This girl thought that she was going to belittle me, make me feel inferior. I couldn't wait to prove her wrong.

"So. Let's begin! Follow me," Ben announced, hastily moving to step between us, apparently sensing that trouble was well on its way. Audrey stepped back, an annoyed look crossing her face when she realized he was brushing her out of the way. I took enjoyment in that. This girl had been in my presence for just two minutes and I already couldn't wait to squash her confidence. She mumbled a quick goodbye to her Prince and turned on her heels, heading in the opposite direction, tossing one dirty look over her shoulder at me. She would learn soon enough, but first I had recon to perform.

I turned my sights to focus on the Prince as we all followed him along the pathway to the castle. My eyes darted back and forth the entire time, watching for someone making any quick movements, making note of hidden spaces, looking for an escape route. I was so on edge, dissecting the situation. If someone were to come up from behind the fountain, we would need to turn left and run into the garden maze…

"This castle was reimagined into a boarding school many years ago, so that all of our kingdom could enjoy higher education." The Prince spoke. We entered through a massive doorway into a spacious entryway. While the outside of the castle was rather plain and bland, the inside was decorated with rich velvet material, polished wooden floors, and decorations lining the walls. I could practically feel Jay assessing which items would be the easiest to pocket.

"Your rooms will be over here in our East wing." Ben stated, gesturing to a long corridor to his left. I turned to glance down it, paintings hung on either side of walls, majestic and intricate work. The Prince continued on about how he hoped that we enjoyed our stay as I drifted off to the side. Glancing up at the painting, I placed my hand on an elaborate detailing of the king and queen on their wedding day. The day they decided that my mother and our people would be banished. I felt the fire start to swell in my soul. But I knew I had to control it. I needed to be a different person for this task. I needed to convince the soon to be King that we were good, that we wanted to be there. That we were model citizens.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" His voice was low and I snapped my gaze to look up at him. He had managed to sneak up beside me without a sound. Or had there been sound? Was I too caught up in my thoughts? It was too dangerous to let my emotions get control of me. "Lumiere, one of our family friends and servants, is a master painter. This was his wedding gift to my parents."

"Yes. Lovely." I responded, glancing past him to see my counterparts engaging in conversation with a puny young man. He was handing them each papers, appearing rather nervous to be speaking with the villain kids.

"Oh that's Doug. He's just telling them about classes and schedules. I'm sure he'll fill you in." The Prince spoke. I returned my gaze back up to his and found a warm smile. I couldn't help but think that it looked so natural for him. But it felt so unnatural to me to actually see something so warm and comforting. "I truly hope that you all will be happy here. I know that the Isle doesn't exactly have prime living conditions-"

"That's a bit of an understatement." I said, with not as much force as I should have.

"I'm sorry-"

"You're sorry? For what, exactly? The disease and famine that take over our streets? The lack of education and amount of children who can't read? The hold over our freedom?" I spoke before I could think and it was a bit of a surprise to see his face fall. The fire inside of me was still burning brightly and I couldn't urge myself to put it out.

"I didn't…. I didn't mean to upset you." He spoke softly. His hand reached for my arm and the moment his fingertips touched my skin I jumped back from instinct. No one touches on the Isle unless it's for fighting or sex. And neither one of those things did I want from this so called Prince.

"I'll leave you to your rooms," the Prince spoke a little louder, noticing my friends making their way to the hallway we were standing in, "if there's anything that you need, anything at all, please feel free to ask." He gave me a look that I assume was supposed to mean something before he smiled quickly at each of the others. He turned and quickly disappeared, heading down another hallway. More importantly, away from me.


End file.
